Karnataka IT Minister Dr CN Ashwath Narayan (Photo | Nagaraja Gadekal, EPS)
BENGALURU: With Higher Education Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan announcing numerous collaborations for higher education from his trips to the UK and Switzerland, it has come to light that the state of higher education back home hasn’t been tended to. With various controversies surrounding higher education in the recent months, the Karnataka State Higher Education Council (KSHEC) is yet to conduct a general council meeting. The last meeting had been conducted on December 17, 2019, almost two-and-a-half-years ago, with meetings stipulated to be conducted at least twice every year.
The meetings discuss general development works and other issues pertaining to higher education institutions in the state. However, the reasoning behind the delay in meetings, KSHEC vice-chairman B Thimmegowda said was due to the announcement of the National Education Policy 2022.
“We had been waiting for a central legislation regarding the NEP, which is why we postponed the meetings. Instead of holding temporary meetings, we had wanted to reconstitute the council as per the NEP regulations when the central legislature had come out. However, since these things take time, we will restart general council meetings soon,” he told TNIE.
He said the higher education minister has given the go ahead on conducting the general council meetings. However, regarding issues and decisions needed to be taken by the council through those meetings, the vice-chairman said decisions were still being taken and not delayed.
